As a third-grader Tom Cotter spent several afternoons in school after the bell rang because, as he says: “I was terrible at school.” 

The punishment turned out to be a blessing. It was during those “after school” sessions where he was introduced to the game of chess, which became a lifelong passion. He credits the game with helping him develop the thinking skills he uses daily managing a highly-diverse, 800-acre farming/grazing operation that includes both no-till and organic crop production.

Cotter Farm was established in 1874 outside Austin, Minn., and was tilled conventionally until 2013 when Tom began no-tilling and strip-tilling. The annual cropping system included corn, soybeans, one field of sweet corn, a few acres of alfalfa, and a winter crop of cereal rye. The operation also included a 500-head feedlot.

Today 60% of the farm is in no-till corn, soybeans, sweet corn, canning peas, sunflowers, cereal rye, alfalfa and interseeded cover crops with 50 cow/calf pairs and 50-100 grass-fed finished feeders grazing every acre. The remaining 40% produces organic corn, soybeans, sweet corn, sunflowers, oats, buckwheat, hemp-grain/fiber and CBD and cover crops for forage.

“What we’re doing today with the multi-crop rotations and interseeded covers growing throughout the year has boosted our fields’ water infiltration significantly…